Notre Dame Scandal Outrages Alumni *UPDATE*

PEWSITTER

“It is beyond sinful that a University dedicated to the Mother of God, in whose womb the salvation of the world became incarnate, would give a platform to the biggest enemy of life in the womb this country has ever seen.”
(Michael Voris ND '83)

"This is a direct slap in the face to all who venerate the Mother of God. To be honoring a man who continues to do everything in his power to destroy the fundamental essence of motherhood through abortion, shows just how far the University has lost its moral bearings."(Marc Brammer, ND Class of ’74 and MBA’76)


*UPDATE*
Well known faithful Catholics weigh in at an NRO Symposium, including:

George Weigel

...It’s bad for Notre Dame, bad for Catholic moral witness in America, and bad for the bishops who are trying to mount a defense against the Obama administration’s assault on the conscience rights of Catholic health-care professionals...

James Schall S.J.

...The accepting of the honor to the president evidently meets his purposes. The awarding it seems to meet the purposes of the university. Some say that it is a perfect fit. Others suspect that both parties, in accepting and giving such honors, manage to demean each other in what each is, in truth, expected to stand for....

Candace De Russy

...President Obama has zealously moved in his first weeks in office to carry out the most radical anti-life, un-Christian agenda of any American president. Among other actions antithetical to the teachings of the Catholic Church, he has increased federal funding for abortions across the world.
For Notre Dame to give President Obama its highest honor is blatantly to break faith and trust with all the Catholic faithful, the U.S. bishops who have expressly spoken against such Catholic institutional awards, and generations of Catholic parents and students who have relied on the university to stand by its hallowed purpose....

Richard Garnett(law prof ND)

...Notre Dame has clouded what should be clear, and deeply disappointed not just her usual critics, but also those of us who want very much for her to succeed....

Patrick Lee

....This is not a mere theoretical disagreement. This act of promoting a virulently pro-abortion politician will cost lives — the lives of many unborn. And it will harm young men and women by obscuring the ugly truth about abortion....

Ralph McInerny(phil.prof. ND)

....Administrators are hugging themselves with delight at this massive publicity coup. The national championship in football has eluded Notre Dame for many years, but when the president dribbles onto the stage at the great event, the hall will erupt in ecstatic applause; the president, Father Jenkins, will wring his hand; and a final nail will be driven into the coffin of a once-great Catholic university. No one will note nor long remember what Barack Obama says on the occasion. Who listens to commencement addresses? But the Lady atop the golden dome, recalling the flight into Egypt, will exhibit one of her many titles: She who weeps.

Patrick J. Reilly

....Beyond the matter of propriety, Catholics rightly suspect betrayal by a Catholic institution. With all of the possible honorees who could have been selected, Notre Dame chose the individual who is today the most dangerous proponent of the Culture of Death in the United States. For centuries, faithful Christians persevered under the persecution of emperors, kings, and Communists; but in the Land of the Free, so-called Catholic intellectuals freely honor those who are responsible for great evil. We have been betrayed.

Paul Kengor

...This invitation is, of course, an outrage. Notre Dame is not asking Obama to compromise his convictions. Notre Dame is asking the Church to compromise its convictions.
It boils down to the abortion issue: The late, great Pope John Paul II, along with the Magisterium (the teaching body of the Church), the cardinals, and American bishops, ordered Catholic colleges not to extend platforms to pro-choice speakers. And Obama is not even your run-of-the-mill “pro-choicer.” He is, flatly, the most radical supporter of abortion ever to occupy the White House...

R.R.Reno

...What was the leadership at Notre Dame thinking? In May the university will give Mary Ann Glendon the Laetare Medal, its highest honor. Glendon has heroically devoted a great deal of her life to defending innocent life. And then Barack Obama — a man who has devoted a great deal of his life to representing elite liberal and anti-Catholic moral views about sex, marriage, and reproduction — enjoys the spotlight. It’s an insult to Glendon.
The complacent leaders of Catholic institutions need to wake up. Many of the richest and most powerful people in our country are utterly and aggressively opposed to traditional Catholic moral principles. Notre Dame can’t pretend that the elite’s fondest hope isn’t for the death of the pro-life movement. And Notre Dame also can’t pretend that giving Obama the podium on commencement day doesn’t create the illusion that his abortion policies are somehow okay.
Alumni and donors need to wake up too....

Fr. George Rutler

This is a highly cynical act, contemptuous of the Church’s prophetic voice in civil society and wagering that there will be no retribution. If a midwestern school seeks attention by granting Mr. Obama an honorary doctorate in law, the next logical step would be to grant Judas Iscariot posthumously an honorary doctorate in business administration.

CHECK OUT Notre Dame Scandal for ACTION